Hospice

Many of us have a clear idea about how we would like to be cared for at the end of our lives, but communicating those wishes to family members can be difficult. A new campaign called, “Honoring Your Wishes” is designed to help people start important conversations about end of life care.

Today we listen back to a show, part of Iowa Public Radio's corrections series last summer, about what it is like to grow old and die in prison.

We hear from an offender who works in a hospice program. He has helped 20 fellow inmates face the end of life behind bars. Host Ben Kieffer also talk with a 74-year-old inmate about growing old. We also tour a hospice room at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville.

Serving in the military changes one's perspective on life, but often it also alters the way they face death. Ben Kieffer speaks with Deborah Grassman, the CEO and co-founder of Opus Peace. Opus Peace is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help people work through trauma.

Prior to Opus Peace, Grassman worked as a nurse practitioner for three decades at the Department of Veterans Affairs. She was also the director of the VA's hospice program and personally took care of over 10,000 dying veterans.

As our population grows older more people are engaging in the important work of helping individuals cross the threshold from life to death. Host Charity Nebbe looks at the lives of those who care for people in the final stages before death with Grinnell College sociologist Karla Erickson, author of "How We Die Now: Intimacy and the Work of Dying." Rev.

Our corrections series continues by examining what it is like to grow old and die in prison. Hear from an offender who works in a hospice program. He has helped 20 fellow inmates face the end of life behind bars. Host Ben Kieffer also talk with a 74-year-old inmate about growing old. You'll also get a tour of a hospice room at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville.

Iowa Public Radio has been bringing attention to the families and professionals who tend to the health needs of Iowans. It can be stressful and emotional work, perhaps never more so than when the person in need of care nears the end of life. Correspondent Rob Dillard takes us to a comfortable, peaceful place set on the edge of woods in Des Moines. It’s a hospice, a home where many people move to spend their final days.